| Transcript |
- England in 1910, and during his thirty-year stay in London and Paris used traditional Japanese woodcut techniques to make prints based on still-life studies. His flower prints were especially popular.
Shin hanga prints enjoyed substandial success in the U.S. during the 1930�s. A major exhibi�tion at the Toledo Art Museum was particularly well received. However, the movement died out during World War II. When the Americans occupied Japan after the war, shin hanga artists were still alive, but they were no longer selling or exhibiting their prints. Following major exhibitions of twentieth-century Japan�ese prints in the British Museum and the Portland Art Museum in the 1980�s, interest in shin hanga seems to have revived. Today the prints are fetching healthy prices at auctions.
Sosaku Hanga
During the early twentieth century, Japanese artists studying in Europe discovered that many internationally acclaimed western artists handled all aspects of the printmaking process from the first sketch to the last pull of the print. This discovery had a profound effect on Japanese attitudes and resulted in a new approach to printmaking based on the western mode.
This new way of working was such a sharp departure from the ukiyo-e and shin hanga traditions that modern Japanese printmakers coined another name for their art�sosaku hanga. Sosaku means ��original, creative work,� so the term sosaku hanga means �creative print.�
The artists of the sosaku hanga movement felt the need to control the whole process of printmaking from conception to finished work. They viewed all aspects of printmaking as part of the creative effort involved in producing an original work of art. By making the print himself, the artist would be able to ensure that the final product was an accurate expression of his original conception rather than an attempt to satisfy the demands of a publisher concerned with catering to popular taste. In the sosaku hanga process, the printmaker creates the final image. This gives the artist the opportunity to make changes as he goes along. Since he also does the printing, he is free to make improvements to the design at any stage of the process.
Pour James McNeill Whistler, I�ukiyo-e repr�sentait un id�al de calme int�rieur et de beaut�. Un tableau tel que �L�Ancien Pont Battersea � Londres,� qui ressemble aux sc�nes de ponts et de feux d�artifices de certaines estampes ukiyo-e, r�v�le une �vidente inspiration japonaise.
En 1891, Mary Cassatt a r�alis� dix eaux- fortes en imitation directe de l�estampe japonaise. Les eaux-fortes de Cassatt sont d�excellents exemples de la synth�se des arts oriental et occidental � la fin du dix-neuvi�me si�cle.
Shin hanga
La gravure ukiyo-e s��tait presque �teinte au d�but du vingti�me si�cle, et ses artistes d�siraient vivement la remplacer. Leurs efforts ont abouti au shin hanga, ou Mouvement de la nouvelle estampe, et le sosaku hanga, ou Mouvement de �l�estampe originale.� Les artistes shin hanga voulaient b�tir sur les fondations de l��cole ukiyo-e traditionnelle, utilisant des dessins et des sujets nouveaux appropri�s � l��ge moderne. Ils ont conserv� la tradition du travail en �quipe, une �quipe comprenant l�artiste, le graveur, le tireur et parfois un �diteur. Les artistes sosaku hanga �taient plus profond�ment influenc�s par la technique et le style occidentaux, et dans la plupart des cas travaillaient seuls.
Le mouvement shin hanga s�est d�velopp� entre 1911 et 1920, en partie en cons�quence de l�int�r�t port� en Europe aux estampes ukiyo-e. Les cercles artistiques japonais m�prisaient Vukiyo-e, jusqu�� ce qu�ils se rendent compte de l��norme r�percussion de l�estampe japonaise sur la peinture impres�sionniste et post-impressionniste en Europe. La haute estime t�moign�e par les Occiden�taux � l�endroit de l'ukiyo-e a amen� l��lite japonaise � jeter un deuxi�me coup d�oeil aux anciennes estampes et � la tradition qu�elles repr�sentaient. Gr�ce � la reconnaissance occidentale, l�artiste japonais �tait tenu en haute estime au pays. Cette reconnaissance a aussi rehauss� la confiance en l�art tradition�nel japonais. Les artistes ont commenc� � valoriser la conservation du patrimoine ukiyo-e.
Le mouvement shin hanga demeure grande�ment redevable � l��diteur Shozaburo Wata- nabe, qui a commenc�, en 1915, � tirer des
|
|---|
